Category Archives: Special Features

Anthony Bourdain Interview: Girls, Bloggers & How He Would Like To Die

Anthony Bourdain
Photo credit: The Travel Channel

I am holding Anthony Bourdain’s cell phone number. Three years ago, when I started my blog, never, ever did I think I would be in this position let alone interviewing Anthony Bourdain. I deliberately don’t have cable TV at home because when I have it I sit in the hotel room and just watch No Reservations.

When I read other reviews of his new book Medium Raw, I was a touch confused. I checked my copy of Medium Raw to see whether we received some bizarre edited version in Australia but no, it was all kosher. It seemed that I had a different interpretation of it to many of the other reviewers who had read it. I thought that it was a kinder, gentler Bourdain whereas they focused on his heroes and villains chapter. He is a provocateur of course but he also makes many very salient points and like Simon Cowell, you may think that he is a bit blunt but he may just be right about things and he makes you think. He also champions the unrecognised in the industry as well as bringing chefs like the wonderful Fergus Henderson into the spotlight.

I was intrigued to find out what he was like. I knew he gave good quote and that his opinions had changed over the years on various matters and that he himself has said that he likes being proved wrong. I also knew that his life had turned around from his previous novel. And without blathering on any more about what I thought, without any further ado, here is my interview with the intriguing Anthony Bourdain.


Photo credit: The Travel Channel

NQN: I’ve read Medium Raw, loved it, but I get the impression that after the anger in Kitchen Confidential that underneath it all you’re a decent and sensitive soul. Is that bad for your reputation?

Anthony Bourdain: I’m real glad you think so. I had hoped that that was the case and I was trying to write a book that was more like that than the other thing. Here it’s been received as a lot more vicious and out of control in a lot of ways I guess because I went after a lot of the more recognizable names in this part of the world, the elder statesmen of food writing. Yes I hope so. I thought I was writing a kinder and gentler book. I’m very aware of the fact that I’m not working in a kitchen its been years. Of course I’m aware every minute and every day that I’m the father of a three year old girl. That’s who I am now. I just wanted to write about it.

NQN: My favourite chapters were the first one which was pure food porn about the Ortolan and the one where you tell us about how you managed to convince your little girl that McDonalds was evil in a rather clever way. Did you ever think that you would be a father?

Anthony Bourdain: I was determined not to be one until just a few years ago. I suddenly had an epiphany and I realised I wanted to have a baby now and I want to have a baby with this woman. I’m old enough.

NQN: What was your reaction when you found out you were having a daughter rather than a son?

Anthony Bourdain: You know it’s funny I do not believe in this metaphysical mumbo jumbo but I was away shooting an episode and I came back and I looked at my wife’s face and I knew it was a girl. And a few minutes later we went to look for an ultrasound and they told us it was a girl. I was thrilled. It’s all about girls for me and quite frankly I’d like another one. I’m really really, really enjoying being the father of a little girl. I am the sun and the moon to this little lady and I’m enjoying that feeling.


Photo credit: The Travel Channel

NQN: I read somewhere that your daughter is growing up eating prosciutto flavoured baby food.

Anthony Bourdain: (Laughs) Well baby food in Italy is very different than baby food here. She’s eating real food but she has unusual taste. Most of the time she eats like every other little kid like hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese sandwiches but we’re in Italy a lot and her mother is Italian so she sees things on the dinner table that a lot of kids don’t see on a regular basis. She likes raw oysters and sardines and anchovies and pecorino. That’s kind of weird for a kid. I’m not trying to raise a foodie it’s just what she thinks looks good that mama and dada are eating.

NQN: You’re not going to put any raw oysters in her lunchbox at school?

Anthony Bourdain: Oh god no that’s just so wrong. Let her be a little girl. That’s just not my intention at all of course. I’m secretly very proud and happy when I see her reaching for something like an oyster I can’t help but think it’s cool but I think she’s like a normal Italian kid.

NQN: Will she ever get one of those evil chicken McNuggets?

Anthony Bourdain: She’s never had one and I will do my very, very best to keep her away.

“It’s like going to a mental hospital and picking on the patients”

NQN: What are your dreams for her?

Anthony Bourdain: All I can hope for is a happy, healthy kid with no self esteem issues who knows that she is loved. Weird would be good, if she’s a little weird then that’s good.

NQN: If she grows up to be a chef?

Anthony Bourdain: I would of course be mortified at the first mention of the possibility but then again secretly proud. Of course I’d be proud but I’ve lived that life. It’s a hard life. I would hope she would choose something else but I’m going to try to not steer one way or another. She’s going to make up her own mind no matter what I say so I just want her to be happy and feel good about herself.

Anthony Bourdain
Photo Credit: Royce Carlton

NQN: Does your wife Ottavia work in food?

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125 comments | August 2nd, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella

All About Olive Oil – Behind the Scenes of How Olive Oil is Made & Judged

cobram estate olive oil tour

It’s not every day that an olive oil producer invites you to visit their olive grove during harvest time. So when the invitation came by email enquiring as to whether I’d like to tour an olive grove and then be cooked a lunch by Gabriel Gate, it was a rather quick and easy decision to say yes! The reason for my enthusiasm is that one of the biggest issues for the Australian Olive Oil industry is the influx of overseas oils which were recently tested by the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and found to be adulterated or refined with blends of other oils whilst still claiming to be Extra Virgin.

Extra Virgin is the highest grade of olive oil from the first pressing of olives which doesn’t contain any other oils or solvents, has less than 0.8% acidity, no faults and has the greatest health benefits. It was common practice to pass off lesser or blended oils to non Mediterranean countries and these were slipping through the system as Australia had no mandatory testing and certification regulations until action was taken this year. The Australian Olive Association has drawn up a list of criteria to qualify an oil for Extra Virgin Olive Oil status including the properties above but products must also have undergone organoleptic and chemical testing. Australian producers that have agreed to this practice can put the “Australian Certified Extra Virgin” symbol on the bottles. One supermarket chain Aldi has signed up to only sell oils that adhere to this practice. “Pure” or “light” olive oil tags are misleading and these are simply names for lesser quality oils. Light is light on taste (rather than calories) and pure is a blend of extra virgin and virgin which has more acidity and slight defects.

cobram estate olive oil tour

Being slightly terrified of light planes, I was not going to be a good candidate for a flight from Essendon Airport to Charlton to visit Cobram Estate. Until I discussed it with my friend Carbon Debit who knows a thing or two about planes and she volunteered to take my place. It was also not really a light plane as it seats 22 and when we saw how magnificent “Air Nostalgia” was with it’s gorgeous metal exterior and rivet work I almost expected Don Draper to walk up to it, give his mysterious “Mona Lisa” smile, take off his hat and board. Inside it’s fully refurbished (at great expense) and our pilots welcome us on board and tell us that they fly this plane “for a bit of fun”. Our flight attendant tells us that we can put our hats and coats in the storage compartments (that’s for you Don!) and we get our little breakfast of yoghurt, muffin and fruit salad. As we leave, they beep the horn-yes there’s a horn and we’re off!

cobram estate olive oil tour

We touch down at Charlton and take a coach to one of Cobram Estate’s Boundary Bend sites. The this site is massive with 1.5 million olive trees, the adjacent site has another million trees, they have 5 sites altogether. Their sites combined are in the top 10 of the world in production capacity of olives. True to the invitation, they’re mid harvest at the moment which entails harvesting 24 hours a day 7 days a week in two twelve hour shifts for an eight week period. The only thing that will stop them is wet weather. Olive trees are particularly hardy as unlike many fruit trees, olive trees will sacrifice the crop to save the tree. Their aim here is to get the fruit off the tree as soon and as early as possible to allow the tree to rest for as much as it can over Winter. It will then flower in October and early November and then fruit set will occur. Unlike many overseas olive farms who specialise in one type of olive tree they do a lot of cross pollination here which increases the yield at least 1-3% to make it more commercially viable.

cobram estate olive oil tour

The albertina is a squat tree which produces a delicate olive early and this is always the first that they pick from. We also pass frantoio trees and barnea trees (seen as the workhorse of the olives). All olives start off green and then turn black and the earlier that you pick the olives, the fruitier the olive oil will become, even within the varieties so it is possible to control the flavour of the oil based on the time of picking. This year they will harvest over five million litres which they consider to be not a large crop. This is because of the hot weather they experienced at the end of October and November which affected the flowering.

cobram estate olive oil tour

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46 comments | June 23rd, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella

10 More Things You Should Know About Food Bloggers

cookbook collection

Good Monday to you Dear Readers! It has been a while since I made a “10 Things You Should Know About Food Bloggers” list and truth be told this list has been sitting in my Moleskine for months waiting for me to transcribe it. The problem? My messy writing which would put any doctor to shame. I managed to decipher my swirly loops and without further ado, may I present you with my next 10 Things You Should Know About Food Bloggers!

1. Forget Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous (unless by narcotics, you mean an addiction to sniffing freshly ground spices), the foodus bloggerus has to check oneself into Cookbook Rehab. That is, the addiction to buying and collecting cookbooks rendering shelves buckled as a result and credit cards depleted. We may not even cook from any of them of course which is the somewhat startling truth as others may ask why we bother buying them but like an addict, some things are just hard to resist. And yes this includes cookbooks that are in French even though we can barely read the language and will spend hours typing it into an online translator in order to cook the recipe.

Laduree at the Champs Elysee St Honore

2. An addiction to butter. Sugar may be one thing but if you don’t have a sweet tooth, butter traverses the sweet and the savoury. For those of us who grew up on margarine (and let’s face it, a lot of us did as it was touted as the new, spreadable wonderspread when our parents were making our sandwiches) going back to butter is like having a new sense of taste opened up. It’s the fifth sense aka the sense of butter.

4-waterholes-butter

Mmm butter…

3. The Food Blogger is often wary of health tests, particularly those testing  cholesterol as above mentioned addiction to butter and copious sampling may supply us with alarming results. So make like an ostrich and bury our heads in the sand ignoring the creeping pounds and expanding waistline.

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82 comments | April 19th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella

All About Airline Food: Behind The Scenes at Emirates airline

emirates airline food ekfc1 entrees

Plated Prawn entrees

emirates airline food ekfc1 lobster

Lobster tail dish

Once upon a time there was a girl (ok it was me), that attended an event called Taste of Sydney. It was an event sponsored by Emirates airline and this girl was obsessed with airline food. She had often wondered if there were little elves that put the little portions of food together and she had a fascination with small, compartmentalised meals. During the evening, her husband Mr NQN came up to her and said “Honey, talk to that man, tell him about the story you’ve wanted to do for ages about airline food”. Unfortunately the man in question was always busy being shuttled from group to group and she was too shy to blurt out “I’d love to do a story on airline food” in front of a group of strangers so a year passed where she occasionally thought about contacting Emirates but never did.

emirates airline food ekfc1 storehouse 2

And then the opportunity came when she was chatting to the amazing Myriam from the Emirates airline’s PR company. She told her that she had always wanted to do a story on how airline food is made in a behind the scenes kind of way and Myriam offered her the chance to do so – in Dubai! So that is how this very happy girl ended up one afternoon being given the lowdown on how your airline food gets from the chefs to your plate and any challenges in between!

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118 comments | February 3rd, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella

Confessions Of A Foodie

confessional 3

In the interests of a New Year, new resolutions and new things, I thought it was about time to come clean on a few things about myself. Call it a 12 step for foodies. Since I feel I am among friends, which Dear Readers you are, I feel time is ripe to confess a few things. A foodie confessional of sorts. Let me start…

I am a notorious overfeeder. When I serve someone a piece of cake, it’s a gigantic slice, and second and third helping are always welcome at my place. But I did kill many goldfish and plants this way and my cats were obese.

funny-pictures-one-cat-is-big-boned

If it’s dinner time on Monday, I have already thought of what I am going to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Tuesday.

I don’t understand when people push away the tray of baklava saying “Oh just one piece for me, it’s so sweet!”. I can literally eat half a tray of baklava, although it isn’t a pretty sight when I do. I can also eat multiple moon cakes.

I was convinced truffle oil was good – until I tried a truffle and realised that the oil tastes nothing like the truffle. Next time I’ll pour gasoline over my pasta for a similar effect.

I walked around for half a day without realising that I had icing on my dress.

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119 comments | January 11th, 2010 by Not Quite Nigella